Displacement structure.



L. H. NASH.

DISPLACEMENT STRUCTURE.

I APPLICATION FILED APR. 13, 1904.

953,222. 2 Patented Mar.29, 1910.

3 BHBETB-SHEET 2.

Patented Mai. 29, 1910.

8 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEWIS HALLOCK NASH, OF SOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO NASH ENGINEERING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF YORK.

DISPLACEMENT STRUCTURE.

To all whom it may concern:

'ie it known that I, LEWIS HALLooK NASH,

engineer, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of South Norwalk,

Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Displacement Structures, of which the following is a specification, illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

My invention is directed to a novel form of apparatus which may be used as a rotary pump, a vacuum pump, an air compressor, .or for other purposes.

()ne of the distinctive features of my improved pump consists in the use of a liquid piston which maintains its form under the action of centrifugal force in such a manner wheels or electric motors.

as to act more like a solid part and by this means it can be made to exert a strong pressure like a solid piston while at the same time it retains its fluidity. -My invention can therefore be used at very high speeds,

.and is well adapted for use as a vacuum pump in connection with-high speed machinery, and it may also be used as an air compressor with the. same, or with water Since the device 1 can be used at high speed a small machine can be made to do a large amount of work which is a feature of great value.

I will nowdescribe the drawings which show devices embodying my invention in a preferred form of rotary pump in order that others skilled in the art may be able to practice my invention, but it will be unwhere it will be understood that the om'ission of an element from any claim is a notice to the public that the particular feature omitted is not an essential feature of the invention of said claim.-

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal sect-ion of a device rovided with this improvement, taken on t e plane 11 of Fig. 2. Fig. 2fis a cross section on the .plane 2 -2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the plane 3--3' of Fig. 4, of a device in which the ex- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 13, 1904. Serial No. 202,968.

Patented Mar. 29, 1910.

ternal chamber also revolves as well as the piston wheel. Fig. 4 is a cross section on the plane 4-4 of Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a cross section on the plane 55 of Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section and Flg. 7' is a cross sectlon of a device embodying my improvements but applied to a different form of structure.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the case chamber is cylindrical and has inclosing heads 5, 5. These heads have hubs for supporting the shaft 6, the hubs also serving as valves in connection with the wheel 7 as will be presently described. The wheel 7is keyed upon and driven by the shaft 6, and said wheel has projecting cylinders on each side which fit over the hubs 25, so as to form'a valve joint therewith. The wheel 7 has flanges 26, 26, on each side and vanes 27, extending from flange to flange, these vanes dividing the wheel into a series of buckets 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14s, as .seen in Fig. 2. Each of these buckets has ports 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, which operate in connection with the ports 15 and 16, in the hubs 2 5, 25. The ports 16, 16, are outlet ports and commumcute with the outlet passages 23, 23. The ports 15, 15 are'inlet ports and communicate with the inlet assages 24, 24. As the wheel 7 revolves the buckets 9, 10, etc. are brought in succession over the ports 15, and 16, so as to admit the fluid. to the wheel buckets on one side of the case and to discharge it on the other side of the'case. The liquid piston 8 is the displacing member and operates as follows: The drawings assume that the pis ton is in rapid rotation and that the position shown is a position of the device at some given instant. Under these conditions the liquid 8 will'assume a position concentrio with the case, as shown in Fig; 2, wherein the inner edge-of the liquid piston will form a definite outline leaving the central ortion of the chamber free from liquid.

he wheel 7 is placed eccentric to the case so that upon one side the wheel buckets are completely submerged, while upon the other side the ends of the vanes and flanges dip just enough below the surface of the liquid to form a joint and complete the closure of the buckets. It will thus be seen that there is formed between the liquid and the wheel,

a series of enlarging and contracting cham-. here which increase in volume.on one side of the wheel as it revolves, while upon the other side the chambers are contracting in volume, and we therefore'have present all the conditions necessary for a displacement device adapted to be used as a pump or engine. In this combination the liquid piston is the important element and I will now describe its action more completely.

The usual impression of a liquid is that it will readily change its shape under the action of a force and that it can not be depended upon to retain a definite form as a solid can.v But when a liquid is subjected to strong forces, as for instance inertia or centrifugal force, it is capable of exerting the greatest resistance to any thing that tries to oppose it. A good illustration of this fact may be found in the water jet as it issues from the nozzle under the high pressure used in hydraulic mining. It has been found that a heavy blow with a crow-bar can'be struck upon the issuing water and that it will hardly indent the jet at all. I have discovered that a rapidly moving liquid may be made to serve the purposeof a solid body in forming a piston or other moving part of a machine and that it has many advantages. For instance, it will fit itself to the place it is to occupy and make a perfect joint, it will lubricate itself and will run without wear and the friction of the liquid body is much less than that of a solid body,

and it has many other advantages which it is not necessary to enumerate.

In the devices shown in the figures the liquid is 'causedto rotate at a rapid rate and the centrifugal force and the inertia of the liquid will serve to hold it in sha e against considerable pressure, and this e ect can be increased to any desired extent by increasing the speed of rotation of the wheel. That is to say, the centrifugal force may, if desired, equal many thousand times the force of ravity, and the inertia of the liquid may make it nearly rigid.

The operation of the device is as follows: The pump being under high speed the liquid piston 8 will assume a position concentric with the case, as shown in Fig.2, and by reason of the strong centrifugal force it will retain this shape with considerable rigidity. The inner edge of this liquid piston will form a closure in connection with the wheel 7, and because this wheel revolves eccentric-- ally to the case, there will be formed enlarging and contracting spaces inthebuckets 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, between the wheel buckets and the liquid piston. As the wheel revolves in the direction of the hands of a clock the bucket spaces 9 and 10 are enlarging while the bucket spaces 12 and 13 are contracting, the space 11 has just reached its maximum size while the space 14 is at its minimum size. The air will enter the spaces 9 and 10, through the case port 15,

and the wheel ports 17 and 18; the port-19 just closed. As the wheel'continues to revolve, the air in the bucket 12 is being compressed and this compression will'continue until the port 20 opens communication with the case port 16, when the air will be forced out into the discharge assage 23. The air in bucket 13 is being fbrced out, while the port 22 has just been closed, into chamber 14. This operation will continue as the Wheel revolves so that there will always be enlarging spaces on the one side and contracting spaces on the other side of the wheel, and the amount of air discharged in each revolution will be the volume of the space 11, multiplied by ;the number of buckets.

In Figs. 1 and 2 the case chamber is stationary and the liquid is forced to rotate by the action .of the wheel 7. This is the simplest form of device and may be used to advantage for many pur oses. In this form there will be hydraulic friction between the liquid and the case, caused by the flow of the liquid over the surface of the case. When very high speeds are used the loss of power caused by this hydraulic friction may become very great, and I have shown in Figs. 3 and 4 a form of device in which this loss is greatly reduced. To accomplish this I cause both the external case and the wheel to revolve so that the liquid is carried around'in the case without flowing over the surface of the case. By this means the hydraulic friction of the device is reduced to that caused by the dipping of the buckets in and out of the liquid. The displacing action of the device is not changed by this modification and the liquid piston is subjected to the same conditions as before.

Referringto Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the case A is mounted upon a stationary shaft 1) so as to revolve freely upon it. This shaft is provided with an eccentric portion on which the ring piston C is mounted. Thus both the piston and the case revolve together upon this shaft so as to preserve their eccentric relation to each other. The case and piston ring are provided with pins and toothed re-' cesses to preserve the coacting relation of the revolving parts. This piston consists of the side flanges d, d, which are joined together by the vanes e, 6, etc., and the spaces between these vanes serve as ports in con- 'nection with the inlet and outlet ports 15 and 16, as in Figs. 1 and 2.. These ports communicate with the inlet and outlet passages 24, 23, formed in the shaft I), and this shaft is supported upon a standard E to which it is clamped by the binder F, and the pipes 31, 32 connect with the passages 23, 24, of the hollow shaft, as seen in Fig. 5. The shaft H transmits the power to drive the pump from an source. I is a chamber for cooling water ormed in the case walls. The

water is introduced into this chamber through the pipe g, and escapes therefrom through the pipe h. These pipes are supported in the casing 2', so as to be stationary and not revolve with the case, and the action is as follows: The water enters the chamber through the pipe g, and is carried around by the revolving case. water fills the chamber up to the orifice of the pipe 11. it will flow into the pipe h by its inertia and thus w ll escape from the chamber. In this way a continuous circulation of water can be secured.

In Figs. 6 and? I have shown a case having a modified form which possesses many important advantages. In the form before described I have shown a form of case in which the forces of inertia and gravity are depended upon to hold the liquid piston in osition, rather than the form of the case itself, but in Figs. 6 and 7, the case is pro vided with extended projections and recesses to retain the liquid piston in place and also to reduce the amount of space between the wheel vanes and the case walls. These parts may be made to approach each other as closely as desired. The effect of this is to make it more difficult for the liquid under pressure to escape from one recess to another, and thereby greater pressures than formerly can be carried in this form of case at a given s eed' of rotation. In the drawings A is tie case having the projections a, a, which also form gear teeth for controlling the rotation of the wheel or iston C. This piston has vanes e, e, which ivide its circumference into chambers and the ends of which dip into the teeth spaces of the case. On each side of the piston are the flanges cl, which complete the closure of the piston chamber upon the sides. The space between these flanges is of the proper width to pass over the tooth projections a, a, as the parts revolve. The iston is supported uponian eccentric sha t I) on which the piston and case revolve, and this shaft contains the inlet and outlet )assages and ports. This shaft is supported upon a pilow-block E which contains sup ly and discharge pipes similar to that s own in Fig. 5. The device shown in Figs. 6 and 7 has other features like that shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, and I have used the same letters to designate these features which are common to both. The drawings show the device at a given instant when rotating at full speed, and therefore in the description of its operation this condition of affairs must be kept in mind. In Figs. 3 to 7 bothcases antpiston revolve, and the liquid iston 8 also revolves, being carried around by the case; but since the liquid does not flow aroundin the case chamber as in the device shown in F gs. 1 and 2, the hydraulic frictlon caused y such flow 1s avoided. The

When the the particle.

liquid is, however, subjected to the same centrifugal force and is held out a ainst the case wal s as before. The displaclng action of the device is the same, that is to say, the metal piston and the liquid piston both revolve around the eccentric bearing and the air or gas enters the enlargin chambers on one side of the piston througi the port 15, and escapes from thecontracting chambers on the other side of the piston through the outlet port 16, as has already been described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2.

I have thus describeda few of the modifications that may be made of my improved liquid piston pump. I do not limit my 'in vention to the exact form of the devices shown, so long as the improvements herein described are embodied in the structure.

I will now describe some of the s ecial uses to which my invention is applica le.

As a vacuum and condensing pump for a steam engine the pipe 32 would receive the mixed steam and water from the en ine or condenser. This mixture would pass into the pump where the water woi ld be carried outward y to the outside of the case and the surplus water would flow out through the out et port 16, while at the same time the steam and contained air would be compressed by the action of the pump and be forced out of the same port. The pump it self may act as a condenser by injecting the cooling water into the supply pipe as by the pipe is, of Fig. 5. When used as an air compressor, I may also introduce cooling water into the supply pipe with the air. In this case the air will be compressed in the presence of water and the heat of compression will be absorbed by the water. The combined air and water will ass out through the discharge pipe and tie water can be so arated from the air in the usual manner. hen moisture in the air is objectionable I may use a'liquid for the liquid piston hich will not evaporate, and in this case the coolin water can Le supplied to the case water jac et. This form of device can be used in series so as to form a compound compressor, in which case the air from the; low pressure pump will pass through an inner cooler to the next in the series in the same manner as is done in the piston type of air compressors.

It will be seen that in my improved pump it is the liquid under tension of centrifugal force that does the work, and it is also true that a li uid subjected to centrifugal force is in a di erent condition from a free liquid subjected to gravity only. The effect of centrifugal'force may be considered in its relation to my amp asa magnified force of gravity; that 1s to say, the force increases as the uare of the number of revolutions and as t e radius of the curve of motion of At 1800 revolutions per subjected to the above force 1/1100 minute the force of the centrifugal effect would be 1100 times greater than the force of gravity, and a pressure that would change the level of a free liquid one inch would only change the level of the liquid when of an inch. v

In .the claims the term displacement structure is 'employedto designate broadly that class of mechanisms whlch are characterized by the resence of enlarging and contracting cham rs with means, such as ports, for controlling the entrance and exit of fluidsuch structures being utilized in displacement pumps, and the l1ke.

Without enumerating the many modifications'of which this device is capable, What I desire to secure by Letters Patent are the following:

1. The combination of a cylindrical case and a propeller wheel eccentric to sald case, of a liquid revolving in said case, buckets uponsaid wheel, said buckets formlng enlarging and contracting spaces, and separate inlet and outlet ports adapted to control 1 the entrance to and discharge from said ter of the wheel for controlling the cycle of entrance and discharge of fluid to each bucket to and from the spaces within said wheel.

3. A mechanism having a piston, comprising a body of liquid subjected to the action of centrifugal force, combined with a chamber having inlet and outlet passages therein and with'ports for controlllng said inlet and outlet passages.

4. The combination of a revolving case chamber having tooth projections, with a revolving wheel intermeshing into said tooth projections and a liquid partly filling said case and' forming the seal between the wheel a and the case.

5. The combination of a revolving case having alternate pro ections and recesses with a piston revo vlng on a center eccentric to that of the case and having projections co-acting with the case projectlons and a liquid partly filling said case and co-acting with said piston to form enlarging and contracting spaces, and inlet and outlet ports for controlling the inflow and outflow of the fluid.

6. A displacementstructure, comprising a case chamber, a liquid revolving 1n said chamber, a wheel adapted to revolve in said chamber and provided with buckets, such case chamber having a form non-concentric with said wheel whereby the liquid enters and recedes from said wheel buckets, and means for retaining a portion of the fluid and for controlling the inflow and outflow of a fluid.

7. The combination of a case, and a piston dividing the casev chamber into enlarging and contracting spaces, with a liquid in rotation in said chamber partly filling said spaces when they are at their maximum size and completely filling said spaces when they are at their minimum size.

8. In a liquid piston pump, the combination of a cylindrical case, a wheel adapted to revolve within said case, said wheel being 'mounted eccentrically within said case, liquid tween the said case and said wheel, anda plurality of separate inlet and outlet ports adapted to admit and discharge air from the center of said wheel, within said case, substantially as set forth.

9. In a liquid piston pump, the combination of a cylindrical case, heads ,inclosing.

said case, a shaft supported eccentrically within said heads, a wheel mounted upon saidshaft, said wheel being provided with a series of vanes forming buckets, inlet and outlet ports in the center of said heads, ports in said buckets adapted to cooperate with said inlet and-outlet ports, a liquid within said case forming a seal between said case and said wheel, and means for rotating said wheel, substantially as described.

10. In a liquid piston pump, the combination of a case chamber, a liquid within said chamber, means for causing said liquid to revolve, said means consisting of a wheel provided with buckets, said buckets being wholly immersed in said liquid on one side and partly immersed in' said liquid upon the other side, and means located in the center of said wheel for admittingnnd expelling air from said case, substantially as described.

11. In a liquid piston pump, the combination of a revolving case chamber, a liquid contained therein, a member revolving w1thin said chamber and adapted to divide the said chamber into enlarging and contracting spaces and .valves situate near the cencontrol the flow of gas into and out from said chamber, substantially as set forth.

12. The combination of a revolving case chamber havlng tooth projections, with a revolving Wheel intermeshing into said 13. The combination of a revolving case having alternate projections and recesses w1th a piston revo within said'case adapted to form a seal be-- ter of said revolving member adapted tomg on a center eccen lsi tric to that of the case and haw ring projecand State of New York this eighth day of V titins eta-acting wfiltlh the cage projections and April A. D. 1904. I a lqui part ing sai case an co-actin with 4 said, piston to form enlarging LEWIS HALLOCK NASH" 5 an contl 'acting spaces, and inlet and outlet Witnesses: ports for the case. CHAS. HAVILAND,

Signed at Brooklyn in the county of Kings E. W. MEEK. 

